WikiLeaks largest classified military leak

[hiphop]

On Friday 22nd October 2010 WikiLeaks released the largest classified military leak in history. The 391,832 reports ('The Iraq War Logs'), document the war and occupation in Iraq, from 1st January 2004 to 31st December 2009 (except for the months of May 2004 and March 2009) as told by soldiers in the United States Army. Each is a 'SIGACT' or Significant Action in the war. They detail events as seen and heard by the US military troops on the ground in Iraq and are the first real glimpse into the secret history of the war that the United States government has been privy to throughout.

The reports detail 109,032 deaths in Iraq, comprised of 66,081 'civilians'; 23,984 'enemy' (those labeled as insurgents); 15,196 'host nation' (Iraqi government forces) and 3,771 'friendly' (coalition forces). The majority of the deaths (66,000, over 60%) of these are civilian deaths.That is 31 civilians dying every day during the six year period. For comparison, the 'Afghan War Diaries', previously released by WikiLeaks, covering the same period, detail the deaths of some 20,000 people. Iraq during the same period, was five times as lethal with equivallent population size.

Search -- Iraq War Logs

[deep]

The reports detail 109,032 deaths in Iraq, comprised of 66,081 'civilians'

[financeguy]

Assange is Soros/CIA funded allegedly.

Interesting interview with him here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo

[AchtungBono]

Assange should be put before a military tribunal, placed before a firing squad and shot..........

But, we don't always get what we want.......

[coolian2]

[Canadiens1131]

Incredible piece here from The Guardian, sourced from the most recent documents leaked.

Wikileaks Iraq war logs: every death mapped | World news | guardian.co.uk

Frankly it deserves its own thread, but this one popped up and I thought it an appropriate place to leave it.

Absolutely staggering when you break it down on a street-by-street basis.

[The_Pac_Mule]

Assange should be put before a military tribunal, placed before a firing squad and shot..........

Fifty years ago he would have. It's outrageous what he's doing, and getting away with. Fucking assclown

[deep]

Originally Posted by The_Pac_Mule

Fifty years ago he would have. It's outrageous what he's doing, and getting away with. Fucking assclown

do you get your history from your gut feelings, personal bias?

[The_Pac_Mule]

do you get your history from your gut feelings, personal bias?

That made no sense.

[Canadiens1131]

Originally Posted by The_Pac_Mule

Fifty years ago he would have. It's outrageous what he's doing, and getting away with. Fucking assclown

Wow, bless your teenage naïveté

[The_Pac_Mule]

Wow, bless your teenage naïveté

You don't think publishing secret military documents is a big deal? Fortunately this time it doesn't appear that these will endanger lives, but who knows, they were classified for a reason.

[financeguy]

Originally Posted by The_Pac_Mule

they were classified for a reason.

To protect the guilty?

[anitram]

Originally Posted by AchtungBono

Assange should be put before a military tribunal, placed before a firing squad and shot..........

But, we don't always get what we want.......

I'm assuming you feel the same way about Jonathan Pollard, then. When's he getting shot at?

[Diemen]

Originally Posted by Canadiens1131

Wow, bless your teenage naïveté

Originally Posted by The_Pac_Mule

they were classified for a reason.

[hiphop]

Originally Posted by The_Pac_Mule

You don't think publishing secret military documents is a big deal? Fortunately this time it doesn't appear that these will endanger lives, but who knows, they were classified for a reason.

I think it´s a big deal that more than 100,000 people lost their lives.

The world has the right to know what´s going on down there.

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired
Signifies, in the final sense, a theft
From those who hunger, and are not fed
Those who are cold and not clothed

(Dwight D. Eisenhower)

[AchtungBono]

Originally Posted by anitram

I'm assuming you feel the same way about Jonathan Pollard, then. When's he getting shot at?

I'm not in the least condoning what Jonathan Pollard did. He was caught, tried and justly sentenced.......but there's a HUGE difference here.

Countries spy on each other all the time (even friendly ones) - and I have no doubt that even now we're being watched by our friends in Washington - it has always been this way, but NONE of the findings were ever laid bare for the world to see.

That being said, What Jonathan Pollard did was wrong, however any information he gathered was given to his operators and NOT made public. His actions were NOT intended to discredit the American administration nor did his actions put any American lives in danger.

Assange is a self-centered publicity seeker disguising himself as a seeker of truth (much like the nutcase 9/11 "truthers" who think that GWB orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.....yeesh). Furthermore, I believe that this was done as a "wag the dog" situation to deflect attention from the rape allegations against him.

In any case, let me repeat - what Jonathan Pollard did was wrong - but what Assange did was WAY worse because his actions hurt the United States and were meant to undermine the efforts in the war against terror.

While we're on the subject, I believe that Jonathan Pollard should be involved in a swap just like the 10 Russian spies were a few months ago. That's also what countries do.

[coolian2]

Originally Posted by AchtungBono

Assange is a self-centered publicity seeker disguising himself as a seeker of truth (much like the nutcase 9/11 "truthers" who think that GWB orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.....yeesh).

that's a big jump. from someone who releases official documents to a mad conspiracy theorist?

[AchtungBono]

Originally Posted by coolian2

that's a big jump. from someone who releases official documents to a mad conspiracy theorist?

You're right - I'm sorry - that was the wrong comparison.
Thanks for pointing that out.

[Canadiens1131]

Originally Posted by AchtungBono

Assange is a self-centered publicity seeker disguising himself as a seeker of truth (much like the nutcase 9/11 "truthers" who think that GWB orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.....yeesh). Furthermore, I believe that this was done as a "wag the dog" situation to deflect attention from the rape allegations against him.

You can't seriously overlook the fact that these rape allegations (which were dropped and then re-opened by a higher-up) came on the heels of the first leak of war documents. Morrrrre than a little shady.

What, you think Assange founded Wikileaks and worked on it for years as a cover so he could eventually, finally get around to raping two women in Sweden and use it as a cover?

He's a globetrotting, rightly paranoid spokesman for a website leaking classified documents. Of course he's going to come off as a publicity-seeker and a bit of a tosser. I am taking bets on how long before his plane has an engine failure.

[cobl04]

i don't know much about the topic (i'm only 20, and perhaps an aspiring journalist), but saying the public "has a right to know" is not a good enough excuse to release classified documents without permission, whatever the content.

i only watched 20 seconds of that interview and immediately disliked this Assange bloke. bit of a fucking joke to attack the world's media for "not doing a good enough job" when they're just being ethical.

all this said, i really don't know much about the whole middle east/war on terror thing anyway, and don't have much interest in it at all, aside from my non-passionate view that Australians shouldn't be over there.